And a bunch of the Denver crew, probably the #3 city in Beat history after New York & S.F., including Justin Brierly (the catalytic source of the Denver – Columbia connection, and who sounded exactly like Walter Cronkite when he talked), journalist Ivan Goldman, Ed “Sketching” White and Jim “Poolshark” Holmes, as well as a crew from the Denver Union of Street Poets including Les Reed, Padraic Cooper and Carolyn Reed . . .

Plus the actors Paul Gleason (The Breakfast Club, Trading Places) who hung with Kerouac in Florida in the early ’60s and decided to become an actor only after seeing Splendor In The Grass with Jack in a theater, and longtime Beat Max Gail (Barney Miller‘s Wojo, and Chief Bromden in various productions of One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest), invisible but ever-present photographer Chris Felver, and lots of filmmakers besides Robert Frank, like Janet Forman, John Antonelli, Richard Lerner & Lewis MacAdams, and Doug & Judi Sharples running around capturing it all, and Jerry Aronson who came up with his concept for The Life and Times of Allen Ginsberg at the conference.

Oh and a little rock group you may have heard of, The Grateful Dead, were playing just down the road at Red Rocks for three nights, and roving ambassadors like John Perry Barlow and Mountain Girl were scouting Camp Kerouac and asking questions of the masters just like all the other students.

It was every major Beat figure alive at the time, except Gary Snyder who was officially off building a zendo (a Buddhist meditation hall) in California, but history tells us he’s long avoided these attention-getting Beatnik gatherings, and interviews reveal he never saw Jack again after their Dharma adventure ended in May of ’56. But with his regrets he sent a nice letter to Allen saying, “Jack Kerouac was the wandering scholar troubador storyteller youngest son of the Jack tales in us all. … The voice of the water going over the edge of the waterfall itself.”

And the other thing to remember is — they were all so fuckin’ young then. But look who’s talkin’! Other than 30 year old Jan, the youngest of them was still more than twice my age!! Babbs & Tytell were 43, Abbie & Ann Charters 45, Kesey & Joyce Johnson 47, McClure 49, Gregory 52, Allen 56 … not that many of this crowd would ever live long enough to be doddering old folks, but they were what we now know of as in their mid-life prime. And while they weren’t necessarily producing their early ground-breaking poetry and prose, they had adopted the Cassady and then Kesey concept that your life is your art. They were, to a man and a woman, better people than they were in their explosive youth. Better performers, better teachers, better organizers, better tempered, better conveyors of their inner vision. And at this event, thanks to the Bill Graham of the Beats, Allen Ginsberg, they were collectively staging the biggest Woodstock of Jack since he first played the Cavern in ’57.

19 responses so far ↓

Wow! You were telling me about this. SO cool to see all those names you met when you were young! No wonder you turned out the way you did! Meaning I’m SO glad you went to this!
Can’t wait to read the book!

This is an amazing snapshot of history: it’s like a gallery of the greats in the Beat museum of all-time. What would Kerouac have made of all this, I wonder? I hear you may turn this into a longer memoir – you should; go for it, we want to read this stuff.
You know, I visited Boulder in ’78 on my own Kerouacian US spin, post-university, and I didn’t know enough. I went to Lowell and SF and a hundred places, too, but I didn’t know as a just-adult what Boulder meant in the chronology of this incredible history. Been back since to Naropa and all, but how I wished I’d been there at this anniversary bash that you write of, Brian. Great you were there; better still that you can now share it with the Beat family of the world.
Thanks for being another great rememberer!

Dale — You gotta have one’a the best bookshelves in Canada, far as I can tell!!
And yeah — I got face time with Robert Frank and I’m very pro Robert Frank … … you’ll love it … loads of anecdotes, including one of the first ever screenings of C-S Blues!